4 Honored for Catching Suspect in Knifing, Slaying

Fidel Elizarraraz, who makes a living stitching together bits of colorful fabric and snipping occasional loose threads with silver scissors, doesn’t consider himself a hero.

But the sewing machine operator and three of his co-workers at a Hollywood swimsuit factory received a hero’s welcome Wednesday from Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks for catching the suspected murderer of a 9-year-old boy in a highly publicized case.

The four Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants, wearing forced smiles, shifted nervously as Parks commended their bravery under the glare of television camera lights and popping flashes.

None of them thought they had done anything out of the ordinary. “It was our duty to help,” Elizarraraz said.

He, Rutilia Lopez, David Lopez (no relation) and Enrique Lool were on their way to work at Holly Bra of California on Nov. 16 when they stopped a man as he repeatedly stabbed co-worker Maria Luisa Rosales.

The man they caught and turned over to the police--Brandon Wilson, a 20-year-old transient from Wisconsin--later confessed to killing the boy, Matthew Cecchi, in an Oceanside bathroom Nov. 14, according to police.

“They risked their lives,” said LAPD Det. John Miller. “They went to the aid of someone without any hesitation, any concern for their own lives.”

The four workers’ story of how they managed to save Rosales and capture Wilson is one of quick thinking, daring and seamless teamwork.

Rutilia Lopez was hurrying toward the sewing plant about 6:20 a.m. last week when she saw a man attacking Rosales about three steps in front of her.

She screamed for the attention of Lool, who was walking nearby. Lool immediately approached the man, who was stabbing Rosales so furiously that bystanders at first thought he was hitting her with his hand.

Interrupted, the attacker abandoned Rosales and raised his bloody knife--at Lool.

David Lopez, who saw the commotion as he was parking his car, instinctively tossed Lool his Club, the anti-theft device used to lock steering wheels.

Lool caught it. Wilson began running away. Lool, wielding the big metal rod, chased him just as Elizarraraz was walking toward them a block away.

“Don’t let him go!” Lool hollered in Spanish. “He harmed someone!”

As the two ran toward Wilson, Elizarraraz remembered something he always kept in his backpack: a pair of silver tailor’s scissors. He whipped them out.

Wagging the small, sharp scissors menacingly at Wilson, Elizarraraz shouted what little English he knew, “Stop! Stop! You no stop, I kill you!”

Faced with scissors on one side and a Club on the other, Wilson--with a scared look--dropped his knife and dropped to the ground, the rescuers said.

“OK, OK! Don’t touch me!” they recalled him pleading.

As Lool held him in a chokehold, Elizarraraz slid off his leather belt and bound Wilson’s wrists together.

Meanwhile, David Lopez had never parked his car but drove on to the LAPD’s Hollywood station to report the crime. When officers arrived moments later, they found Wilson sitting docilely on the ground, already “handcuffed” with Elizarraraz’s belt.

“Not only did they save [Rosales’] life, I think they also saved the lives of potential victims” by stopping the suspect, Miller said.

The Hollywood Division presented each of the four with $50, donated by an anonymous citizen living near the crime scene who wanted to express her gratitude.

But the four--who spend their days sitting among rows of workers at pedal machines sewing beach-ready bra tops and panties, earning extra piecemeal pay on top of their minimum wage base salaries--say the attention has been difficult.

They almost had their wages docked for missing work to appear at Wednesday’s downtown news conference, Miller said.

As TV cameras panned the four faces for a close-up, they clamped their jaws, looked down and turned away. Off camera, they said they would have done the same even for a stranger.

Rosales, who had been in critical condition, was released Tuesday from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She is still confined to bed but recovering well from the stab wounds to her head, chest, abdomen and arms, police and co-workers said.

“The main thing,” Rutilia Lopez said, “is that everyone is safe this Thanksgiving. Everyone’s family is safe, thanks to God. We are a family.”